All The World Is A Toy
by AvocadoLove
Summary: Every important lesson Azula ever learned had been by playing with her toys.


**This was my submission for the Orderofthelotus writing exchange, and probably the first time I've ever tried to write a character case-study. **

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The day that Azula received her first toy was same day that she learned fear could be an even better weapon than firebending.

Oh, she had toys before – Daddy would get her any doll she wanted, and she owned an entire cabinet of tiny stitched clothing in which to dress them. Her favorite dolls had real human hair. Those were always the best. They smelled more authentic when they burned.

But those dolls were just things. Things powered only by the limits of her own imagination. Inanimate. They only melted under flame, and didn't care when she cut their tresses bare to the skull. And in the end they all proved to be most unsatisfying.

Her first _real_ toy was anything but.

It was a wolf-lion puppy. Purchased at great expense from the best breeder on Ember Island, it had fluffy golden fur and soulful brown eyes. Azula had to put up with her mother and the nursemaids crooning all day long. Oh how cute was the little pet. Oh how strong and loyal wolf-lions grew to be. A beautiful, powerful pet for the fire princess.

This, Azula felt, was only to be expected. She would have only the best. And she cuddled the sleeping puppy in her arms, smiling brightly when her mother glanced over and ignoring stupid Zuzu's looks of jealousy. And if her fingers were a bit rough when petting the soft golden fur, it was only because she was a child and was excited...

It only took three nights for the puppy to learn the game.

Above all, Azula enjoyed how wonderfully unpredictable the creature could be. Sometimes it cowered in the corner, stub tail tucked between its legs. Sometimes it would lash out – all teeth and claws and Azula had to be quick. Quick when it retaliated and quick not to let any of the evidence of her little games show… she had seen how sometimes her mother checked over the puppy with a suspicious eye. Azula was too careful not to leave any singed fur.

She was careless only once. The creature was half grown, all soulfulness gone out of its eyes, its reflexes sharpened and wary from torment. Practice had made it lash out faster than a striking snake. Azula was caught by a claw – a deep scratch on the back of her hand that trickled blood all the way down to her elbow.

That wasn't in the rules of the game. Of course, Daddy found out and the creature had to be destroyed. Azula didn't care, much. Her toy had really ceased to amuse her weeks ago. She had moved onto others.

She found that people were even more interesting than the puppy.

The servants couldn't know they were toys. Azula learned to plan ahead, to be observant. She would watch when her mother or Daddy would entrust something important with one of the man-servants or handmaidens – a delicate vase, or perhaps a rare piece of jewelry or important message. If Azula was quick enough, if she was good at the game, this would go missing… or put in another place and not be found for weeks. Or foolishly broken.

Sometimes the servants would be punished. Sometimes they would be fired and struck from the palace. Sometimes the servants cried and begged for forgiveness for their error, and nothing would happen at all. Azula found the results depended on who was metering the justice: Daddy was much stricter than her mother.

Her friends were different sorts of toys all together.

In a school full of girls, Azula picked Mai and Ty Lee to be her friends specifically. Even she had to admit she had her own limits – limits she intended to move beyond. Ty Lee was a natural acrobat with almost unearthly grace and talent for leaping, speed and contortion. Mai was a gloomy thing and almost overlooked until Azula recognized her deadly accuracy with daggers. Together, they were fit to enhance her education, and Azula set herself to befriending them at once.

But educational or no, they were _her_ toys and they had better not forget it.

"Don't do that again," she would warn, when she felt Ty Lee was getting above herself. "I know you have six other sisters. You can easily be replaced." And Azula would hold her gaze to Ty Lee's until the other girl looked away, bottom lip trembling.

Mai was always harder to read, more reserved, less likely to step over the line. She had her weaknesses, though. They all did.

"You should have been there at dinner, Mai. Dad thinks Zuzu is weak. He told him he was lucky to be born at all. If you ask me it's only a matter of my stupid brother is sent away before he disgraces our family. Who in their right mind would like a pathetic baby like him?"

Her brother.

Such a useful toy. When Azula played with him, she always knew what she got. Anger. Backlash. It was funny to see, and so easy to rile him up it was almost boring. Almost.

"Dad's holding a war council today, Zuzu. Oh, you weren't told? Even Uncle Iroh was invited and everyone knows he's useless…"

The consequence of that taunt was most satisfying. Better even when Azula would sneak behind the curtains as a child and watch the servants be punished for actions she herself had done. Now she practically had a front row seat at her brother's Agni Kai. Many of the people looked away while she leaned forward, clenching her fist, eager.

And when Zuko came back from his banishment, three years later (and only due to Azula's effort), he was still her toy.

"Why did you tell Father That I was the one who killed the Avatar?" he demanded, walking into her room, eyes glaring, mouth in a stubborn line.

She turned away, smiling very secretly to herself and rose from the bed. Her loose robe slipped over one bare shoulder and she saw Zuko glance away, just for a moment, his unburned cheek reddening.

"Call it a generous gesture." She got to her feet, making her leisurely way towards him. "I wanted to thank you for your help, and I was happy to share the glory."

"You're lying." A pause and her quick gaze caught his adams apple bobbing, just once. "You have another motive for doing this. I just haven't figured out what it is."

"Please, Zuko. What ulterior motive could I have? What could I possibly gain by letting you get all the glory for defeating the Avatar?" She reached over to him now, pretending to flick away an invisible stray thread from his shoulder. Of course, there was none, and she was rewarded by his flinch at the touch. She paused, leaning forward, nearly crooning the next words to her toy. "Unless somehow, the Avatar was actually alive. All that glory would suddenly turn to shame and foolishness. But you said yourself that was impossible."

He turned his head, mouth half open as if to speak. There were no words. The twisted and deformed half of his face was to her, but the eye was apparently still useable. And in it she caught a flash of fear – the special sort of entrapped panic that only came at being cornered. For a moment Azula remembered her first real toy, her pet, now years passed. The wolf-lion puppy and Zuko shared that same, cringing look.

Azula smiled – a true smile this time and deliberately took her time in stepping away, brushing her sharp nails to the back of his neck.

"Sleep well, Zuzu."

He left, back stiff and proud, and fooling no one and Azula took her time in rearranging her blankets and settling herself back for sleep.

She had many toys in her life. Fake doll toys, real live toys, educational toys, fun toys… but her brother – he would always be her favorite toy.

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End file.
